Gameboard with rotatable discs

ABSTRACT

A RIGID GAMEBOARD HAVING A SUBSTANTIALLY PLANAR PLAYING SURFACE WITH A PLURALITY OF PATHS OF MOVEMENT FOR GAME PIECES DELINEATED THEREON WITH A PLURALITY OF ROTATABLE DISCS ASSOCIATED WITH THE PATHS OF MOVEMENT TO CONTROL THE MOVEMENT OF THE GAME PIECES ALONG WITH A CHANCE DEVICE INDICATING THE NUMBER OF MOVEMENTS TO BE MADE BY   A GAME PIECE WITH THE OBJECT BEING TO MOVE THE GAME PIECES FROM A START POSITION TO A FINAL POSITION ON THE GAMEBOARD.

Sept. 20, 1971 G. L. PIPPIN GAMEBOARD WITH ROTATABLE DISCS 2 Shoots-Shut 1 F1 101 Fnb. I", 1970 Fig. 2

Gary L. Pippin Sept. 20, 1971 G. L. PIPPIN 3,606,334

GAMEBOARD WITH KO'IATABLE DISCS Filed Feb. 15, 1970 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Fig. 3

Gary L. Pippin United States Patent M 3,606,334 GAMEBOARD WITH ROTATABLE DISCS Gary L. Pippin, 1859 S. 31st, Kansas City, Kans. 66106 Filed Feb. 3, 1970, Ser. No. 8,367 Int. Cl. A63f 3/02 US. Cl. 273-134E 5 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A rigid gameboard having a substantially planar playing surface with a plurality of paths of movement for game pieces delineated thereon with a plurality of rotatable discs associated with the paths of movement to control the movement of the game pieces along with a chance device indicating the number of movements to be made by a game piece with the object being to move the game pieces from a start position to a final position on the gameboard.

The present invention generally relates to a gameboard and more particularly such a device having a plurality of rotatable control discs mounted thereon to control movement of the game pieces.

Many well known game apparatuses incorporate a gameboard having a path of movement delineated thereon with the path of movement being divided into a plurality of increments with game pieces being moved along the path of movement under the control of dice or the like where the game pieces are moved a number of increments in accordance with the number rolled on the dice by the players of the game. While such game apparatuses serve their purpose, they soon lose their entertainment value since the only control for movement of the game pieces is the dice.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a gameboard having a path of movement delineated thereon and divided into increments together with a plurality of rotatable discs each having a portion of a path of movement thereon which may be oriented in various positions for controlling movement of game pieces.

Another object of the invention is to provide a gameboard in accordance with the preceding object having a centrally located spinner with two concentric rows of indicia indicating the number of moves to be taken by a player as well as the maximum number of moves that may be used by a player to move an opponents game piece or rotate a disc that will affect an opponents play.

A further object of the invention is to provide a gameboard with rotatable discs thereon which may be adapted for playing various games with various rules and requiring various degrees of skill which is highly entertaining and will retain the attention of the players for a relatively long period of time.

These together with other objects and advantages which will become subsequently apparent reside in the details of construction and operation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of the gameboard illustrating the components thereof in a start position.

3,606,334 Patented Sept. 20, 1971 FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the construction of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the gameboard similar to FIG. 1 but with several of the discs rotated to another position.

FIG. 4 is a detail sectional view taken along section line 44 of FIG. 3 illustrating the construction of the gameboard and the rotatable discs associated therewith.

Referring now specifically to the drawings, the gameboard of the present invention is generally designated by the numeral 10 and is constructed of a rigid panel 12 having substantially planar top and bottom surfaces. As illustrated, the panel 12 is substantially square in configuration but the shape, size and configuration may vary without altering the present invention. For example, the gameboard may be rectangular, circular, polygonal or of any desired shape and size. The gameboard 10 as illustrated is adapted for use by as many as four players which may play independently of each other or as partners with the gameboard also being capable of use by two, three or four players and it is also within the purview of this invention to construct the gameboard so that a larger number of players such as five players can play on the gameboard at the same time.

Positioned on the gameboard are four rotatable discs 14, 16, 18 and 20, four intermediate discs 22, 24, 26 and 28 and a center disc 30. As illustrated in FIG. 4, the disc 14 is recessed into a correspondingly shaped pocket 32 in the rigid panel 12 and is rotatably attached thereto by a rivet or similar fastener 34 extending through the center of the circular disc 14 and being anchored to the panel 12 in any suitable maner so that the disc 14 may rotate in relation to the panel 12 and the fastener 34 will frictionally retain the disc 14 in adjusted rotatable position. Each of the discs are of the same construction and rotatably journaled in the same manner with the intermediate discs being smaller than the corner discs. While the discs are illustrated as being recessed in pockets, it is pointed out that the discs may also be mounted above the top surface of the panel 12 in which event the panel 12 would not be provided with the pockets or recesses 32.

The background surface of the gameboard 10 may be distinguishably colored any desired color such as green or the like and peripherally of the gameboard is a path of movement 36 delineated thereon by a different color such as yellow or the like with the path of movement being divided into increments by transverse division lines 38. As illustrated, the inner edge of the path of movement 36 is delineated along certain increments by a bold or heavy line 40 which may conveniently be black in color with certain other areas of the inner edge only being delineated by a relatively narrow division line 42 which also may be black in color but not as thick or wide as the line 40 and it is the areas 42 having the narrow division line in which game pieces may enter or leave the path of movement 36.

Each of the main discs 14, 16, 18 and 20 have a peripheral path of movement 44 delineated thereon of the same color as the path movement 36 and divided into arcuate segments by radial division lines 46. The outside perimeter of at least one segment of the path of movement 44 is provided with a heavy or wide black border line 48 and at least one of the radial dividing lines is a heavy bold black line 50. Centrally of the disc 14 is a pair of paths of movement 52 and 54 each of which is arcuate in layout and provided with curved division lines 56 and colored areas 58. One group of colored areas has indicia 60 therein and are distinguishably colored from the other group of areas 58. The colored areas 58 without the indicia 60 indicate the starting position for the game pieces or tokens of the player occupying that corner of the gameboard and will be colored one distinguishable color such as brown while the areas having the indicia 60 thereon will have a different color and indicate the finish position of the game pieces or tokens which start from the diagonally opposite corner of the gameboard and may be suitably colored orange or the like. Thus, in the two diagonally-opposite discs, the same two colors would be used with the color of start position colored areas 58 being the color of finish position colored areas in the opposite disc. The tokens would be preferably colored the same color as the colored areas 58 to enable the players to recognize their tokens during movement from a start position to a finish position.

Each intermediate disc 22, 24, 26 and 28 is provided with a peripheral path of movement 62 divided into a plurality of increments by radial division lines 64 with one radial division line 66 being a heavy black line and one arcuate segment having an outside perimeter defined by a heavy black line 68. The center disc 30 is provided with a peripheral path of movement 70 divided into a plurality of increments by radial division lines 72 which are not equally spaced but define alternate larger and smaller arcuate segments around the periphery of the disc 30. Centrally mounted on the fastener 34 for the disc 30 is a freely spinnable arrow 74 associated with two concentric rows of numercial indicia 76 and 78 with the outermost row of indicia 78 indicating the mandatory moves and the innermost row of indicia indicating the optional moves which can be made on an opponents game pieces or on discs which will affect the movement of the opponents game pieces.

In addition to the paths of movement indicated previously, there are connecting areas 80 interconnecting the corner discs and the center disc, connecting areas 82 communicating or connecting the intermediate discs with the center disc, a Y-shaped area 84 including two areas 86 and 88 which are connected with space in the path of movement 36 and spaces 90 and 92 which connect the corner discs with the spaces 86 and 88 respectively. As illustrated, the discs are symmetrical as are the playing spaces and all of the playing spaces may conveniently be colored yellow or any other suitable color distinguishable from the background color and the colored spaces 58 and the tokens used are also distinguishable from the other colors used. Rather than using the spinner type chance control device, a die may be employed and various types of tokens may be employed including coins and various types of games may be employed with the object being to move the tokens from the start position at one corner of the board to a finish position at the diagonally opposite corner in accordance with a predetermined set of rules.

Basically, the rules should include the positioning of all of the discs in a start position as illustrated in FIG. 1 with the tokens also in the start position and the player initiating play may be designated by the person spinning the highest number on the spinner or rolling the highest number on a die. The player having the first play will spin the spinner and the number indicated thereby on the outer row of indicia will indicate that he can move any one of his own tokens or any one of his partners tokens that number of moves and he may move any one of his opponents tokens a maximum number of moves not to exceed the number indicated on the inner row of indicia underlying the spinner or he may move any one or more discs one notch per move which could result in the disc blocking movement of an opponents token. A player may not move more than one token belonging to himself or his partner nor may the player move more than one of his opponents tokens per throw. Each player attempts to move his tokens to the finish positions in the opposite disc and to prevent his oponents from doing the same. Various other rules may apply such as no token may be moved in two directions per actuation of the spinner, landing on an opponents token causes that token to go back to the deepest start position open, no token may jump another, moves must be made for all points rolled, tokens cannot jump heavy black lines (gates), each time a token crosses a thin line, a move is counted and no disc may be moved that does not directly affect the goal of the game, that is, to advance your own tokens or your partners tokens or to block or return your opponents tokens to a start position. Various childrens and adult games may be provided by varying the rules of the game and by varying the tokens. For example, coins may be used as tokens and the winner may take all of the coins which are left on the board when one player has moved all of his tokens from a start position to the finish position.

Various instructional indicia may be provided on the gameboard such as indicia indicating the start position and indicia indicating the direction of rotation of the discs and movement of the game pieces from the discs or into the discs. By developing various skills, shortcuts may sometimes be taken and in some instances, opponents may block movement of the tokens through shortcuts thereby requiring considerable concentration and attention to be directed to the game at all times especially when a multiple of players are playing and the tokens are oriented in various positions around the gameboard.

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention as claimed.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

1. A gameboard comprising a panel having a peripheral path of] movement for game pieces delineated thereon, a central disc rotatably mounted on the gameboard, a plurality of rotatable main discs oriented about the periphery of the center disc and spaced radially therefrom with a portion of the periphery of each main disc being disposed alongside a portion of the path of movement delineated on the gameboard, a plurality of intermediate rotatable discs disposed between the main discs and being spaced from the central disc and spaced from the peripheral path of movement, and connecting areas between the center disc and the main discs and between the center disc and the intermediate discs, connecting areas between the intermediate discs and the path of movement, connecting areas between the main discs and the areas connecting the intermediate discs and the path of movement to enable movement of game pieces on the gameboard, each main disc including a plurality of distinguishably colored areas therein forming a starting point for one set of game pieces and differently colored areas defining a finish point for another set of game pieces, and spinner means and indicia on the center disc for indicating the movement of game pieces along the path of movement and connecting areas.

2. The structure as defined in claim 1 wherein each of the main discs and each of the intermediate discs have a peripheral path of movement delineated thereon by radial division lines, at least one of the radial division lines being of a heavier color to form a gate indicating that there should be no movement of a game piece therepast, each of said main discs and intermediate discs including a heavy arcuate line on one of the segments of the path of. movement indicating that there should be no radial movement of a game piece off of the disc, said arcuate heavy line being spaced peripherally from the radial heavy line.

3. The structure as defined in claim 2 in which the central disc indicia include two concentric rows of numbers underlying the spinner means to indicate the number of moves of each game piece and limiting the number of moves a player can move an opponents game piece and indicating the manner in which a disc may be rotated to control movement of the game pieces.

4. The structure as defined in claim 3 in which the path of movement and the connecting areas are arranged to enable shortcuts to be taken during movement of game pieces from one main disc to a diagonally opposed main disc.

5. The structure as defined in claim 4 in which the gameboard is provided with a background color and the 6 path of movement and the connecting areas are distinguishably colored a different color from the background color.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS DELBERT B. LOWE, Primary Examiner us. 01. X.R, 273-134GA 

